Handel » They also finished with the best home record at 3

The Indiana Pacers earned the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and theyll begin their crusade for an NBA title Saturday night when they welcome the Atlanta Hawks to Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Catch the game on TSN2 starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. The Pacers held the No. 1 spot in the East for much of the regular season, but the end of the campaign didnt go as planned. Indiana went 10-13 to finish the season, but got the top seed when the Miami Heat rested some starters late in the campaign. "I was excited that we got it. It was something we set out for," head coach Frank Vogel said prior to their season-finale. "It gives us the best chances going into the playoffs." The Pacers lost in seven games to the Heat in last years Eastern Conference Finals. They finished second in the NBA in opponents scoring and first in opponents field-goal percentage. They also finished with the best home record at 35-6. But the Pacers will need to improve significantly if they are going to advance in the postseason. All-Stars Paul George and Roy Hibbert both regressed as did Lance Stephenson. But the team is built on defense and have had time to try and cure whats ailing them. "This is the best time of the year," said Stephenson. "Every game is on TV and every game is about business. Theres no joking around. Everybody is watching." The Hawks are in the playoffs for a seventh consecutive season and needed both late-season heroics and a collapse by the New York Knicks to punch a ticket. Under the guidance of first-year head coach Mike Budenholzer, the Hawks managed to tread water in an otherwise dreadful Eastern Conference and hope to move past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2010-11. The Hawks have been bounced in six games in each of the last two conference quarterfinals. They lost six in a row in late March and started to feel the heat. However, the Hawks won six of the next eight games to get back on track and a 98-85 win over the Heat on April 12 sealed the eighth spot. "Im happy for all the guys," Hawks guard Jeff Teague said. "We worked so hard all year. Injuries and everything that can happen to a team happened. We were able to still make it to the playoffs." The Hawks dealt with a major loss early on when All-Star center Al Horford went down with a right pectoral injury. But Teague and Paul Millsap picked up the slack and got Atlanta the eighth seed. Teague averaged 16.5 ppg and 6.7 apg and Vogel indicated that he was the key to stopping the Hawks. "The whole defensive game plan is keeping (Teague) out of the paint; its the toughest challenge were going to have," acknowledged Vogel. Indiana and Atlanta met in the 2012-13 playoffs and the Pacers disposed of the Hawks in six games. The Pacers and the Hawks will face each other in the postseason for a sixth time and the two sides split four regular-season meetings this season. The Hawks trounced the Pacers in Indiana on April 6, but Indiana is 10-5 in its last 15 as the host in this series. Atlanta has won 14 of its last 16 against the Pacers at Philips Arena. Mike Bossy Jersey . Head coach Lindy Ruff confirmed on Sunday that his starting goalie has a head injury and the team will take it day by day. Josh Bailey Islanders Jersey . You can watch all the action on TSN and TSN GO beginning at 8:30pm et/5:30pm pt. Minnesota dropped the first two tests of this best-of-seven set at Chicagos United Center and was outscored by a combined 9-3 margin in those setbacks. However, the Wild righted themselves at home by taking Game 3 by a 4-0 count before knotting the series at two games apiece with Fridays 4-2 triumph at Xcel Energy Center. http://www.islanderssale.com/authentic-anders-lee-islanders-jersey/ . Minutes after the previously winless Colts got their first win, 27-13 over Tennessee, team vice chairman Bill Polian said the four-time league MVP will not play this season though he has begun throwing to teammates at the team complex. Leo Komarov Jersey . The first of the three games will be played in Week 4, when the Oakland Raiders will take on the Miami Dolphins on Sept. Brock Nelson Jersey . The Stampeders announced the move on Wednesday. Bell spent his first two CFL seasons with the B.OTTAWA -- With a clean short program, capped off by an exuberant jump at the end, Kaetlyn Osmond put the past four frustrating months behind her. The 18-year-old from Marystown, N.L., is halfway to clinching her spot on Canadas figure skating team for the Sochi Olympics, winning the womens singles short program at the Canadian championships Friday. Osmond was sidelined for a good chunk of the last four months, with first an ankle injury and then a torn hamstring, and admitted to wondering at times if shed make it back in time for Sochi. "I have this little jump at the end of my program and I think I put more energy into that little half jump than I did into my entire program because I was so excited," Osmond said, laughing. "And when I went to do my curtsy, I couldnt help but be relieved." Osmond landed a triple flip-triple toe loop combination, then a triple Lutz to score 70.3 points for her 60s-inspired performance to "Big Spender" and "Rich Mans Frug." Amelie Lacoste of Delson, Que., scored 61.27 to leave her second heading into Saturdays free program. Gabrielle Daleman, a 15-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., is third with 58.38. Canada has two berths in womens singles for the Sochi Olympics. The Olympic figure skating team will be announced Sunday. Osmond, who was eighth in her world championship debut last year, suffered a stress reaction in August, and then tore her hamstring during the short program at Skate Canada in Octtober, forcing her to withdraw before the free skate.dddddddddddd Her treatment included a cortisone shot and platelet-rich plasma treatment -- the injection of platelet-rich blood into an injury (three-time world champion Patrick Chan had PRP for a calf injury prior to the Vancouver Olympics). She was off the ice for more than two weeks, and it was several weeks before she was back to doing jumps and spins. "When I got back on the ice I could barely do my crosscuts still, so I had to work so many edges and so many stroking exercises before I could even think about jumping," Osmond said. "It was really hard during those times to even think that Nationals was coming up, time was going so fast, and I was still not even on the ice." Osmond has only one full competition under her belt this season -- Skate Canada Challenge, a qualifying for nationals last month in Regina that she won. "The only thing thats missing is the competition experience and the momentum, and this is going to help her so much," said her Edmonton-based coach Ravi Walia. Osmond has come to look at the last few frustrating months as a blessing in disguise. "I learned so much from it," she said. "It actually helped my training because it hurt to fall (after the hamstring injury), so I had to learn perfect technique. It hurt when I did the wrong technique because my leg would swing out to the side too much. So in a way its a good thing." ' ' '